Cardinal air: chaos magic, willpower, telepathy

The aerialist reminds us of the possibilities of this card, just as the telepathic lamb controlling the swords above her head: it is possible to wield mass, force, and energies that feel chaotic in the service of a singular goal.

Cardinal air: Bonds, Promises, Endurance

This is the engine of storytelling – in any story, there is a winnowing of options, a set of choices that become a single choice. This is what makes the story resonate – we can feel the experience of the characters as they grapple with what we must, every day.

Cardinal air: mycelial networks, field notes, fungal categories

In The Museum of Atheism, each chapter begins with a description of the fungus that has taken over the town of Rosewood, where the action happens. These descriptions act as field notes about real and imagined fungal forms

Cardinal air: hoodwink, meditation, play.

This scene could be from a play or a photoshoot. The figure could be sitting for a portrait, or waiting for a lover to release them from a game.

Mutable earth: Homecoming, mortality, transition

This card feels like a hopeful and homely card to pull - it gives a sense of things being in their rightful place - but the ten gives a sense of the next transition to be to something else, another stage of life. For some of us, that transition is into the realm beyond life, and the spectre of death haunts this card and decan.

Mutable air: research, reflection, voice

You unearth your work like an archaeologist discovers treasures, or a farmer pulls up crops.

Fixed earth: wild animals, practical witchcraft, poetry

Rathore’s poem ‘Alison Device (1594-1612), named for a Pendle witch, is a beautiful meditation on mortality and desire.

Fixed air: systems, ancient wisdom, collective practices

This can become the container for all of your rituals, devotions, and divinations, and a space to process what your subtle body is experiencing when you generate, edit, and share creative work.

Fixed water: petrichor, deep wells, decay

The sun doesn't disappear. We just can't see it as much as in the height of summer. There is treasure in the void. There is gold in the dark.

Fixed water: working through, deep release, breaking open

You can work with this ritual to come back to creative centre whenever you are feeling blocked.

Fixed air: future visioning, collective energies

What happens if you think about your projects not in terms of word counts, but in seasons? Could you be guided by a full seasonal cycle, from solstice to solstice, or Samhain to Samhain? Or could you work with your solar return?

Fixed fire: alchemy, energy, creative flows

Have you been feeling like you could use a change in your writing routine? Perhaps you would like to find a regular weekly slot to work? Or even something more drastic like a complete change in direction?

Fixed air: portals, balance, opposition

How do you build rest into your writing practice? When do you let the field lay fallow, and when do you let it grow wild?

Cardinal earth: ambition, architecture, boundaries

When we read a story, temptation only works when we agree to it. Like the two figures here, we must submit to story.

Cardinal earth: cathedral, winter, resources, the unknown

The Five of Pentacles appears to be about stuckness, and scarcity, but it can teach us a lot about the luminous mysteries.

Fixed earth: receptivity, plenty, earthly pleasures

If we keep frenetically trying to force our way through the world, we will lose sight of the luscious opportunities being handed down from the clouds.

Mutable water: confusion, hidden meanings, the moon, intuition

In this card, the figure doesn't notice the moon, and doesn't seem aware of how its guiding force is helping them on their way. The moon in the Eight of Cups is at once a sliver of waxing crescent moon and a full moon, or perhaps it is an eclipse.

Cardinal fire: will, magic, ritual.

Casting a spell is a combination of ritual and will. The ritual supports the magic, and that is why it is necessary to use specific herbs, objects, incantations, tools, and so on. But without the concentrated force of will, the spell will be hollow and ineffective.

Cardinal earth: initiating a sensory practice, intentions

A sigil is a powerful symbolic representation of your magical will.

Mutable air: cosmic messaging, spiritual frequencies, intuition

Intuition and divination are key to practical magic. The individual magician’s intuition will dictate the results of their magic, even if they follow precisely the same rituals as someone else.